God means... never having to say you're sorry that there no actual PROOF of God

The religious folks I have known in my life are good and trusting people for the most part, excluding those consciously engaged in lying about God, for financial gain. I dare not hold anyone responsible for honestly needing to hear good news and simply believing what millions before them have also believed, that there is  a God, and that believing in this God will lead a person to immoratality by means of another life, a life beyond this life, this mortal existence. It is called "heaven" by many, and three people in Kansas call it "Zotsville", though no one knows--or cares--why. I was once a believer of things religious myself, and I too asked for nothing more than a "promise" of The Truth. Only later in life, after witnessing a fairly steady procession of sick people filled with hope and trust, and seeing their totally reasonable prayers go completely unanswered--always chalked up to "His will"--I went back to the beginning of my spiritual quest, and attempted to  exchange that "promise" of The Truth for... The Very Truth itself. I was told-- "the promise has 'devalued' ", and I would have to add a number of other promises to it, and that in any event, "The Truth" had been replaced--unconvincingly--by "The Near-Truth", and that if I had any complaints, to "take them to the Superintendent", knowing full-well there was never any "Superintendent"--not even a regular-intendent!

What I have come to realize is that Religion, at its steamy yet non-moist, naked-core, is a centuries-old form of mind-control.... the original mind-control, no less. Other such manipulations cannot claim to control thoughts and ideas so effortlessly, on a simple promise, not to mention that the soul and the body are included in the deal. Religion is an all-or-nothing deliberation--it inherently requires an individual to hold back nothing and convinces you that anything you might want to possess is another symbol of your unwillingness to believe. 

I will continue this later--after I eat this devil's food cake--may some sort of deity forgive me, knock on wood... Ollie-Ollie-Home-Free! Gesundheit!  Um-mm... Fore?

This Author makes some good points, but comes off a trifle prejudiced and terribly whiney and accusatory...

Are You A Victim Of Sacramental Disorder ?

You... are religious. You are guided by the spirit of God. You have your holy book, and this book renders all other books inferior. You hold this book---its contents, and its perceived meanings---to be the Supreme Authority. Based on your understanding of your holy book, and with assistance of kind, holy people, and the encouragement of fellow-believers, you discover a way to account for things for which you had thought there was no accounting.

You are... religious because you believe in a god (or perhaps gods), and your relationship with your god shapes your morality, your ethics, and your lifestyle. Your religion truly inspires you and infuses you with a determination to be closer to your god. You unabashedly proclaim to others that your god is the god. You have your trusty holy book at the ready, and of course you are prepared with a litany of quotes and verses from your book that you firmly believe will indelibly clarify your position; that you can't possibly be wrong, and that anyone who believes in some other god, or gods, or no god or no gods, is most definitely missing out on what you have come to believe is absolute truth of the matter. Indeed, according to your holy book, these misinformed many are doomed to die, or worse yet,  suffer dire consequences beyond death, mere death falling short of justice, as per the minatory instructions of your holy book.

You are... religious, and equipped with the tools of your religion, you either fashion a shield of resistance to deflect any and all challenges to your beliefs, or you build a fortress of faith, and quietly and righteously hide therein, patiently awaiting a very special day; Judgement Day. That day will bring the fulfillment of a portenous  promise---that of everlasting life.  This will be the first day for the rest of your immortality. 

Well, now. That's it in a nutshell. Or is it? Being religious... as you are... you would likely think so. It's simple. What's to question? Which part of the preceding account could possibly be challenged? Isn't the fact that multitudes of others believe exactly as you do enough to safely place GOD into the Done Deal category? Is this not irrefutable?

            A former top guv-ment goon says: 
 "I Went and Fucked Myself "   (a "handy" feat)    

 

Here's a little heads-up, oh religious one. That good old gopher wood boat that Noah built would sure come in handy against the flood of reasoned logic that's crashing towards your religion at a slightly slower, yet precisely more persistent speed than this author can type---the tidal bout is fast approaching! You had best head for higher ground, because a terrific tide of truth will very soon be slamming into the Coast Of Your Holy Ghost. It's the truth-tsunami and the name of the game is, "Got God?", and, " Can the Good Book make good on my claim?"
                                                     
                                                 
                                                 This "fact-phenom" is what I have termed
                              the TRU-NAMI

The TRU-NAMI brings devastation to your not-so-sure shore-line. The TRU-NAMI sees fraud where others see God. In fraud we do not trust!